THE CANADAIN SCANDALS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2270, 22 October 1891, Page 4

THE CANADAIN SCANDALS.

The Hon. P. Carneau, Commissioner of Public Works for Quebec, has assumed the responsibility of the paymenls in connection with the Baiel Chuleurs railway, and denies that M. Mercier, Premier of Quebec, was guilty of corrupt practices. The members of the Opposition ridicule the attempt made by the Hon. P. Carneau, Commission of Public Works for Quebec, to whitewash JVI. Mercier, the Premier The Toronto Globe denounces the Governor-General, Lord Stanley, for not dismissing the Minister for dissolving Parliament, in view> of the scandals which & -ive come to light during the last few months. Tho pulpit, in referring to the matter, discusses the question of having an elective Governor. ISLAND NEWS. Auckland, Oct. 19. News from Rarotonga by the Richmond is that things are quiet throughout the island, and th it under the regime of the British resident, Mr Moss,' the njw law.are working satisfactorily. The Herald correspondent at R.irotong. ■writes that when the news was iute pretc to the Actuitkians th:it Engltud an». Russia were likely to come to logger-he ... over the Dardanelles question, a iiuujia of thetn waited upon Mr Moss and f him they were prepared to raise 200 300 men to proceed to Turkey to upn.u the • honor of their new mother, Quue Victoria. From Tahiti comes the news that Mon signore Jansaon, Oath ilic Bishop oi Tahiti, and the first prelate appointed t. that see, died in Papiete on September 9th, aged seventy-seven years. A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT. Melbourne, Oct. 14. On Thursday last a most extraordinary gun accident happened to a young ma named Robert Campbell, an employe o. the Melbourne Telegraph Office. Campbel. and others were out shooting and sketch ing on the Yarra Flats yesterday morning, aud amongst the firearms of the party was a muzzle-loading pistol of the oh. fashioned type. Tliis strange blunderbuss wasused by Campbell, and he was in theac. of loading it, U3ingan iron rani rod 3 16th of an inch in thickness, to stamp th charge, when it exploded, and the ram o wasdriveu through the young man's brain. The point entered the cheek just below the left eye,, and taking an upward courst passed through the eye and the brain, and protruded 7£in out of the top of tlu skull. Although injured so--terribly Campbell lost neither his consciousness nor his nerve, and walking up to one oi his companions asked him to pull out the ramrod. This the friend deemed in advisable to attempt, and setting off fo) Campber well they consulted a docto t'lare, who advised them to go at once t> the Melbourne Hospital. This advice wa< acted upon, and at three o'clock in tin afternoon, five hours after the accident Campbell stood in the casuality room o. tie hospital with the ramrod still sticking out of the top of his skull. He was eveii then conscious, and able to walk aboui fh-mly and without assistance. The operation of trepanning was perforate*, with every success, and the ramroii r iinoved. Campbell still lives, but then &cd grave doubts of his recovery. WOMEN AND THE CENSUS. The complete results of the decennial census of England and Wales (says tht Queen) which was taken on April sth in the present year cannot be worked out for return to the House of Parliament fo some time, but certain figures have been tabulated and presented to the House of Commons which are of sufficient interest to be worthy of careful attention. The most astonishing result, and that perhap; one that will be of most interest to oui readers, is the steadily increasing disproportion in the relative number of the Bexe-«. We do not kn >w whether or not it will be satisfactory to the advocates oi what are called women's rights to know that the number of women in proportion to those of men is steadily and progressively increasing. At the present time we have in England and Wale: npwards of 900,000, or nearly 1,000,00=) .more females than males, the ex-,«. number being 900,2J2 This dispropor tiu in, the, niihiber of,the sexes his an in. portant bearing on the franchise question In the progress of democratic institution which is going on more or less rapidly i all civilised countries we are bound look forward to the period, h jwever taut, of universal suffrage, or a sufJVfig. so widely extended as to be practic.li,, universal; and, given' a large an<i s eadily increasing proportion of women, it follow, that, in the course of time they will constitute under such conditions the majority of the voters, and naturally send th>. greater number of representatives to thi council of the nation. Hence the men the chief bre.vl winners of the cmuinuai; wh > have t» furnish the wu 1; ui <i b ndiers and s.dlors required for the d, ie . ofthec mntry,aswellasthep >lico.nido lalmini t atora of the law, will be in minority, and wdl be c nitr.-lled by royrjse.itatives of th »se who are not c . upon to fulfil functions, and wh not furnish agreat portion of the i:. required for the administration of (State. Should things ever arrive at m. a state,, and a diveigei.ee of opinion t. pl.ice between the two sexed as to the ministration, tlie disag eement might ',. suit in very untoward conssequeiiC' Even at present the outlook is not sat f 4.ctory. If we assume that the natu j destiny of women is to marry, we find io this country th.it six out of every 10G m it of .ece <uly find marriage u.attaina -ie, they imiat of necessity depend for a li/ing on their own exertions or on others oh whom perhaps they have more or less claim. There appear two ways of sol ving this question, neither of which is applicable to this country. In the East they get rid of what they regard as super fluoiiß female children by throwing them into holes built in what have been termed " Towers of Silence." In other parts of j the world polygeny is practised, and although advocated boldly by such erratic writers as the late Sir Richard Burton and practised amongst the Mormons in America, it is not likely to find favor with the English. One point, however, is clear, namely, the necessity of providing profitable and useful employment and oc- | cupation for the 900,202 females who are j

RAIN-MAKING EXPERIMENTS. A Midland (Texas) telegram to Dalziel says : “ General Dyrenforth and the rain makers are jubilant. The first importani experiments have been a great success. Rain was made to fall on Tuesday from a sky which when they began was cloudless and from which no farmer would look for rain inside a week, and they claim that the rain was undoubtedly caused by their explosion of oxyhydrogen balloons, rackarock, powder and dynamite. At 3 o’clock on Tuesday afternoon a large balloon ascended from C. Ranch, where the scientists had their headquarters, about 25 miles from Midland. The balloon was sent up about a mile and a quarter and then exploded, the report sounding like a stunning thunderclap. The sun at this time was shining brightly, the sky was blue, and there was only a few small clouds to be seen. The weather instrument showed the air to be remarkably dry, and the barometer indicated fair weather. Ten minutes after the explosion, a string of kites was set flying, and when high in the air the dynamite attached to their tails was ixpl xled. Then large quantities of blasting powder were scattered on the ground over a space of two miles square, ■id exploded by electricity. The noise vas like the firing of successive batteries irtillery. The smoke arose to a height t 2iJ jft, and was afterwards beaten ■ nv.i by torrents of rain. The sky had nckly become overcast, the barometer eg.ui falling ten minutes after the . iloon explosion, and the rain was heavy, one storm centre being over C. Ranch. Ranchmen and employees along the line if the Texas Pacific report that the storm- extended over the area of 1000 miles. The explosions were heard plainly at Midland, and on ranches 40 ' miles away people heard them and . •opposed them to be thunder. More j elaborate experiments will take place, the i anchmeh and townspeople being sceptical i s to the cause of Tuesday’s rain; but 1 General Dyrenforth says he will convince werybody wi.hin a week.” NARROW ESCAPE. George Saunders, a Riverton resident, tad a miraculous escape from death at the Invercargill ra Iw.iy station. The Southland Times reports that just as the train .’or Riverton was starting, Saunders, when ibout to step on the carriage platform, vas either pushed or fell between the tarrow space between the carriage and platform. As he disappeared from view wxd the train moved on there was ; a moment of intense suspense, and one lady tinted, while others turned away their leads. Saunders at first struggled to rise, and several times escaped death by the (lightest of margins. At one time one of lis legs was seen to be in front of an advancing wheel, but was withdrawn in the nick of time; at another, a wheel grazed his head, the skin on the other fide being abraided by contact with the platform, so narrow was the space. One of the railway porters acted with great promptitude, and finding he could not pull Saunders up, tried to keep him as much as possible to the side of the platform . and clear of the rail. Mr A. Dunlop, who happened to be near, saw that Saunders’ only chance of safety was to lie perfectly still, and he appealed to dm to do so ; and Saunders afterwards stated that, excited though he was, he recognised the voice and tried to obey the injunction. Meanwhile Sergt. MacDonell had run from the throng and signalled to the driver, whose attention was fortunately arrested, and. who promptly pulled up. Saunders, brused aud dazed, was then lifted and taken to the stationmaster’s room, where, to the great relief of all who witnessed the incident, his injuries were found to be comparatively slight. He has had an experience that will serve him for a lifetime, but has not yet heard the last of the matter,, for it is understood that he will be summoned for a breach of the regulations in attempting to get on a carriage while the train was in morion, ASHBURTON STOCK MARKET. There were about 6000 sheep yarded at he Ashburton Yards on Tuesday. There vas a large attendance of buyers and 'hers present, but the bidding was sornen.u slow, and with the exception of one .-.wo special lines, there was a general inline in prices from Is to Is 6d per head, pecially for store sheep. Feed, however, . now getting very plentiful, and there' every reason to believe that'the decline , itioe.il de will only be of a very •emporary character. Fat merino ewes -ealised up to 10s 3d, merino wethers lls 6d, hoggets 16a 9d, crossbreds 15s 9d •ip to 22s 6d for a specially good line, crossbred ewes and lambs 14s 7d to j I6s lid, .merino ewes and lambs llg 3d, crossbred hoggets 9s lid to 12s 3d, and ■ i big line of shorn hoggets brought 9s lid. , AUSTRALIAN MARKETS. Sydney, Oct. 20. i-w Zealand potatoes have advanced to t > ,6s. iri.GLLSH MARKETS. Lon, on. Oct. 18. ri 1 Me lium mutton, 275; beef, 1.6 .. The j.. gli h wheat market- is depressed, -ontiiienT.,.l steady, and American unchanged. Australian Hides—Salted heavy ox, '!fd; do cow, 3d.